duran duran - friends of mine : video

here is some magnificent live footage of duran duran in 1982 at the hammersmith odeon. the sound and film quality are exceptional. all the boys look great. its just the sort of video that i knew was floating around out there somewhere way back when i first fell in love with them, back when i was only afforded scattered pictures and video due to living overseas in a time of rare and very limited media. even if i had been a rich girl back then, i still might not have been able to 'get my hands' on such footage... but now, i have almost no cash to my name, and i can sink my teeth into it along all the rest of elite and common alike. really, exceptional film and sound. great stuff.

ragged

so um, i feel a little on the blue side, so i can't seem to think of anything real wild to post, but i wanted to mark the day somehow, so here's a real foxy shot of simon le bon. i love you all.

respectable

hey, i may be a girl from a small town, but i know a rare photograph when i see it. this shot of sting and the wonderful andy partridge from xtc definitely qualifies. i know i haven't seen it before. i can tell by the faces and clothes that it was probably taken in frejus, france during the taping of the film 'urgh, a music war.' if you get a chance, you must see xtc's blistering performance of the hard and hot 'respectable street.' yes, in this shot, it was sting that gave the 'rabbit ears' to andy, but if you ask me, it was sting that was 'stung' when the genius boys from Swindon took the stage and absolutely killed.

michael

ladies and gentlemen, this is the one and only lovely mr. michael kamtman. he is an actor. a damned fine one. i first met michael almost 20 years ago when he came to speak to my high school drama class. it was one of only two times in my life when i fell in love at first sight. apart from being devastatingly handsome, he is one the most versatile and talented actors i have ever had the priviledge of seeing perform live. he handles every role with faultless mastery. i can't tell you how many times i've gone to see a show just to see him. the first time i saw him swordfight, i could hardly catch my breath. and he can sing, too! he is also a wonderful teacher. although i was merely a blushing teenager the first time we met, he always talked to me with such intelligence and respect... as if i was an equal... he looked past the schoolgirl to see the person i was. over the following ten years or so, i went to see him in dozens of plays and parts... and no matter what he was in, he was unfailingly the best thing in it. he had something about him... such a sterling grade of class and character that i never tried to... well, seduce him into doing something he could've regretted. no, he's the one i left alone... the one i never knew, for i realized it probably could not have gotten better, sweeter, than sitting in the darkened front row, watching him do his work, from a distance, adoring him. michael, i loved you then, and i still love you now. god bless you.

boys on film

wow... isn't that like, THE single most predictable headline for a shot of duran duran's hot young john taylor taken from the classic 'girls on film' video? yes, it is. but its been so hot... so i suppose i can blame my lack of wit on the steamy temperatures. there's a cool breeze now, so i finally feel like playing around. and you couldn't ask for cuter playmates than john taylor, nick rhodes, and simon le bon. anyone who's familiar with this video knows how fast this shot of john goes by... its like, 'blink-and-miss-it,' but even before there was such a thing as a pause button, my keen eyes caught it every time. (remember the 'good-old days' when we used to have to sit by the tv and wait around for a video to come on? kids these days, they don't know how easy they have it.) so dig on this hot shot of john taylor. he was, at that time, as cool as they came.

the popularity of piracy

yes, thanks to jack sparrow and his charming, wicked ways, pirate gear is enjoying a resurgence it hasn't had since the scarfy days of adam ant. i wasn't pearldiving for pirate stuff when i found this anonymous bit of jolly roger cheesecake, but i liked the shot enough that so it went... in my sack! (pardon me if i'm a little silly tonight, i just got in from a new england moonlight swim.) so dig it, this cutie... she's a 'treasure...!'

scarlet

man, the heat is making it hard for the planet to be as cool as it likes to be... so until there's a break in the weather, i expect there'll be a lot of singles. like this single shot i took from my 'clue' dvd of miss lesley ann warren as miss scarlet. its not bad considering she was in motion, walking through a room, but i still got it in one shot. today i had both 'clue' and 'victor-victoria' rolling at the same time, it was a nice brunette-blonde lesley-ann overload. (or is she an 'anne?' i don't feel like double-checking right now.) more when it cools the f*** down. love, me.

handsome

i've had this picture of my darling ian holm for so long i've completely forgotten where it came from. but he looks so sweet and sexy i wanted to post it, even though its small. sometimes i get the feeling someone is sitting on a vast vault of dreamy shots of ian holm, but they're not willing to make them public right away. i mean, the man has acted all of his adult life, there must be countless photographs of him. oh well, until i find all them, i'll content myself with what i have. kisses, ian.

duran duran : medazzaland - video

here's a very good fan made video for the title track from duran duran's masterpiece 'medazzaland.'
its heavy on the dreamy synth, and sort of has a swirly feeling of going under. the spoken-word lyrics were done by nick rhodes, who just had a birthday on the 8th. great song.

happy birthday nick

yes, its june 8th, the birthday of the one and only mr. nick rhodes. as many of you may know, he was one of the founding members of Duran Duran, and has always been my unofficial favorite. i mean, of course, there were times when i found Simon sexier, and there have been some times where John has been better looking, but ever since 1983 or so, Nick Rhodes has been my fave. it was a picture of him in a fan magazine that struck me with such teenage 'love at first sight' that i was inclined to 'get into' Duran Duran. they have always been on the list of my all-time favorite bands, and their music and videos have almost 100% stood the test of time. nick is a wild genius, so curious about all aspects of music and art. and he seems like a guy who's doing what he loves, and still loves it. and i still love him. this is a picture from quite a few years ago... 2000, maybe? anyway, he's gorgeous, bright, talented, funny, and serious about turning out high quality work. if my math is right, he's 46 today. so here's to you, nick rhodes. happy birthday. i love you.

splish

tonight i went swimming outside in the inlet for the first time this year. after a hot day, the water was blessedly cold when i slipped into it at sunset. the skyline was striped with dogwood pink and fading tangerine, beneath an oncoming cloak of bruised darkness. at first, it was so cold i gasped, but after dunking my head completely, all i felt was a glorious cold that settled into every vein, every cell. i've always been a good swimmer, so i reached and stroked and swam against the heft of the water easily. wow... it felt wonderful. for about a half an hour, i lolled and floated and kicked and splashed... feeling wealthier than i've felt in a long time. my house, just yards away up the hill. cars rolling over the bridge within sight. after dark, i went in, showered, then put in my copy of nicolas roeg's 'walkabout' to take a still frame of miss jenny agutter in her lyric gorgeous swim sequence. i felt like she feels, and its hard for me to be in the water without hearing the john barry score in my head. so tranquil.